Avoid Brave Browser at all costs!

Here is why:

https://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showpo ... ostcount=2

I think it is much bigger than just that, its creeping in all over the place.

https://www.activistpost.com/2017/08/mo ... -news.html

Follow the money...

MBMz10. are you saying that Firefox is now suspect? I'm using Chromium here on Zorin, but I have Firefox on other distros. I have been wondering myself about them lately. For example, when I recently "refreshed" Firefox, it removed my ad blocker.

Icecat, formerly Ice weasel comes complete with adblocker preloaded only slight downside is that it prevents some sites working if commercial javascript is used but it is really quick.

Thanks, I'll give Icecat a look.

mdiemer wrote:MBMz10. are you saying that Firefox is now suspect? I'm using Chromium here on Zorin, but I have Firefox on other distros. I have been wondering myself about them lately. For example, when I recently "refreshed" Firefox, it removed my ad blocker.

When I read the linked article and a few searches as well then it just doesn't look good. I have already noticed with Youtube for example that when you search for something you get what they want you to watch because that is what makes them the most money. I have used some of my own video titles copied and pasted and still cant find them and the search result titles displayed is nothing like, not even close to the terms that was searched for.


There is no "you" in Youtube and if other platforms like Firefox start to censor results well I am out. I've had my youtube account for 10 years in January 2018, I uploaded some videos way back then and never used it until I started doing some Linux videos about 2 years ago and tend to now just leave it logged in for convenience even though I know they are profiling me, collecting data etc, no worse than CCTV when you walk down the street, you phones GPS, credit cards, the NSA and counterparts in your country and the like with the exception that Youtube is making money from 'you'! I logged out of Youtube recently and it was even worse, just vids for the herd mentality, pewdepie, gangmanstyle etc etc, guess they 'punished' me?

Skynet is here already, it just hasn't evolved into what we see in the Terminator movies or the Matrix. AI is here also and same thing, it is creeping up on us in subtle ways you may not recognize. Timers on devices like microwaves, automatic wipers with the screen washer on your car (a peeve of mine) and auto lights and lots of other places. My 'Smart phone' drives my nuts! I am not saying its is all bad, in fact much of it is good but the point I am making is that like a frog being boiled in slowly heated water it is up to each individual to become aware.

Mozilla (Firefox) taking money and implementing censorship smells bad to me. Just provide the service, browsing searching and so forth and let people make their own minds up or go with the herd. Stallman's (Richard) soap box just got higher again, I used to think he was a little extreme even though I can see his point, it seemed a near impossible feat to remain "FREE" but I'm trending further towards him everyday.

Swarfendor437 I apologize for my rant and hijacking your thread and as you can tell this is something important to me more than ever now. I saw the article about Firefox a little while ago and have been meaning to make some changes and read about the Brave browser at that time but haven't acted as of yet. The Browser is such an integral part of todays PC's system, I wonder if some of the Distro creators with start changing? My aim was to point out that it just starts small and we hardly notice whats happening as our freedom is slowly eroded way whilst we were busy being distracted elsewhere.

End of rant, I feel better now

Hi MMBz10,

Please feel free to rant as much as you want! I started with a YouTube account many years ago and when they introduced their then new 'privacy' contract I closed my account and moved to veoh.com - this is totally free, but I had some issues with my dual-boot Zorin 9 with Windows 7 video - veoh.com claimed it was an issue with my upload speed/ISP when in was nothing of the sort - I had spent 36 hours trying to get it uploaded and in the end opened a free account with vimeo.com and then for the last 3 years have paid for the vimeo plus package which allows me slightly bigger videos but I have to watch what I do as it is limited to 500 Mb per week (and Pro account would hardly get used).

Speaking of censorship in your neck of the woods, I watched a talk by Mr Stallman (possibly on YouTube even!) pointing out how draconian Oz was with censorship and cited an anti-abortion group which whilst he did not hold with their views, was concerned that they were not allowed access to promulgate their views on the internet - so state controlled Internet Services are also an issue. Even greater issue is what is happening in Europe right now - without any consultation a group has successfully lobbied to effectively end net neutrality and we could soon see pay per access to certain websites - apalling.

Hey, I tried installing Icecat, but got the message that it is not a Debian package. Would not install.

No such thing as a free lunch, or beer for that matter. Paying for a service versus free, I guess provided you get what you pay for is OK. Why would a corporation give you something for free? Or what price is freedom? All this 'free' stuff comes at a cost most of us don't see yet we wonder how Youtube, facebook and the like got so big! Follow the money.

Censorship has always been present to some degree and most societies have consensus about what we don't want to see/hear in our communities. You know the sort of stuff I'm referring to, off topic or not this isn't really the place to debate or discuss these things. It is really a matter of where that line in the sand is and who decides that?

Interesting you mention about draconian Oz as I do see this statement on the web a bit yet as a citizen I don't feel it day to day, guess I've be dumbed down slowly over time like the frog in hot water, acclimatized! Yet I still feel relatively free, time to travel abroad to shake up the senses perhaps!

Interestingly when I opened my email was a link to this thread and an email from Mozilla (I recently made a donation B4 finding out about this stuff, must have clicked the keep me updated news box). Mozilla wants to know what country I live in...Feel like I should tell them Planet Earth with the rest humanity.

So anyone noticed any changes with Firefox recently, the last few weeks or there abouts? I think it was from version 56, I started being pestered about X website wants my location or such. Preferences has changed, the interface, and now I cant find stuff. I smell a rat. Little wonder that this thread got me going on something that I was putting off.

Where to now? I looked at the Zorin web browser manager on Lite yesterday and installed the 'web' and 'midori' but removed them 2 minutes later as they seemed a little cut down on features. I used Chromium for a little while when I first started using Zorin Lite but found the same features missing and couldn't configure it the way I wanted, also my Firefox bookmarks wouldn't import and no auto scroll function could be found. Wait there is more, no bookmarks tool bar and menu bar. Did a few searches but couldn't find how to fix these issues so just went back to FF.

Tried installing TOR but that went pear shape also. Something about I'm under attack or network issues. My head hurts. Ice Weasel or ice cat is debian and Firefox derivative so is that going to change anything and how to install????

OK, Icecat is a bit peculiar. I probably have not 'installed' it in its correct place. This is what I did. I went to the download page here:

https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gnuzilla/52.3.0/

Because I am running 64-bit Ultimate I downloaded the corresponding tar.bz2 and extracted the files into the Download folder - open the folder and click on the Icecat 'diamond' icon to run it. Now whilst it is based on Firefox it is stripped of all commercial elements and non-commercial elements added. To add it to the menu I had to install 'alacarte' (Main Menu) and manually added 'new launcher'. The command being the path to the icon I told you about and it works:

download/file.php?id=5659&mode=view

Once in the Zorin Menu I can then right-click and add to favo(u)rites - the panel as shown in the image above. Just be aware that it won't work too well with some sites that have commercial java script in it. Was surprised to get YouTube running inside of it!

So I tend to use Icecat as my primary browser and Firefox for those sites I need to access, particularly in relation to moderator duties. (so as you see Zorin forum smilies use a small portion of commercial java script hence my manual inclusion of and

Post script: unless of course you know to put : in front, and : after the name of the smilie/imogee/emoticons - whatever!